4: 4
4
When my eyes finally dragged open, I was lying on the bed, my head splitting.
The door pushed inward. It was Summer, Winter's younger sister.
The girl carried a cup of tea, and the moment she saw me awake, her eyes went red.
"Miss, you're awake!"
My throat was parched. I asked in a low voice.
"Why is it you? Where's Winter?"
She was trembling all over, tears the size of beans dropping down, stammering a long while before she got the truth out.
"Last night the ancestral hall caught fire. My sister was so worried about you she rushed to the mistress's courtyard to beg for help, and she knocked over Miss Winifred's medicinal broth by accident..."
"She was... she was caught by the mistress on the spot, and beaten to death!"
Something sweet rose in my throat, and a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out.
Summer screamed.
"Miss!"
I let her wipe it away for me, tears sliding down to my temple.
I had already written her release from bondage. Today I meant to hand Winter back her indenture papers.
After that, north or south, the two sisters could go wherever they pleased.
But now she was dead. Because of me.
Summer gripped my hand, her voice raw.
"Miss, don't fall asleep, I'll go call the physician right now..."
"Stop pretending!"
My mother walked in, her expression indifferent, and gave me one cold glance.
"The house physician already said there's nothing wrong with you."
"I underestimated you. To get yourself out, you actually dared to set the ancestral hall on fire!"
I signaled Summer to leave, forced myself up to sit on the bed, and gave a bitter little laugh.
"So has the mistress come here this time meaning to beat me to death too, to atone to the Henson ancestors?"
At the word "mistress," she froze, then laughed from sheer fury.
"Fine. For the sake of one worthless servant, you won't even call me Mother anymore!"
"So be it! Better you don't, so Winnie doesn't have to feel hurt!"
Her gaze bored straight into mine.
"Two days from now is Winnie's coming-of-age ceremony, and the day the Gilbert family comes to present the betrothal gifts."
"When the time comes, all you need to do is say your heart has long belonged to someone else, and let the two of them be together."
"If you don't do it, I'll throw that worthless servant's body onto the mass grave to feed the dogs!"
My head snapped up, my eyes full of disbelief, my fingertips clenched white.
In the end, I nodded.
"Fine. I'll do it."
...
Two days later, the residence gates stood wide open, guests streaming in one after another.
The coming-of-age ceremony was about to begin, yet there was still no sign of Amy Henson.
Vanessa Mason was on the verge of an outburst when she saw Blanche Pruitt come stumbling over, the color drained from her face, murmuring low at her ear.
"Madam, something's wrong!"
"The eldest daughter... she's dying!"
